History of South Sudan

Part of a series on the
History of South Sudan
Pre-1955
Nilotic expansion Shilluk Kingdom Azande Avungara Muhammad Ali dynasty Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur Equatoria Juba Conference
Contemporary history
South Sudanese wars of independence First Sudanese Civil War Second Sudanese Civil War Nomadic conflicts 2011 independence referendum South Kordofan and Blue Nile conflict Republic Ethnic violence South Sudanese Civil War
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The history of South Sudan comprises the history of the territory of present-day South Sudan and the peoples inhabiting the region.

South Sudan's modern history is closely tied to that of Sudan. These ties began in the 19th century with the southward expansion of the Ottoman Khedivate of Egypt and the establishment of Turco-Egyptian Sudan with the land that makes up modern South Sudan remaining a part of Sudan through the Mahdist State, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the Republic of Sudan up until South Sudan's independence in 2011.

South Sudan is mostly inhabited by Nilo-Saharan speaking peoples, with Niger-Congo speaking minorities. Historically, what is now South Sudan was dominated by Central Sudanic speaking peoples, but the presence of Nilotic peoples can be assumed from prehistoric times as well. Since about the 14th century, following the collapse of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia, the Nilotic peoples gradually came to dominate the region.